Cheers to Summer! Embracing a New Season

June 7, 2026

Cheers to Summer! Embracing a New Season

Cheers to summer! I love summer!

I’ve always eagerly awaited the summer season and I’m sure many of you have too. I love the extra hours of sunlight. I love the outdoor activities, the picnics, the parades, the lawn games, the beach, the mountains, and the extra minutes in the day to enjoy the presence of my kids at home. I especially love the slower pace.

I grew up on a farm where every season was distinctly different. Summer wasn’t a vacation season—it was a work season.

I spent my summers working in the fields, baling hay (oh, that was a lot of work!), picking sweet corn (and eating plenty of it too), mowing acres and acres of grass, and soaking up sunshine and replenishing some good vitamin D3 along the way. By the end of summer, I usually had a pretty good tan, strong muscles, and a deep appreciation for hard work.

My summers looked very different from the summers my children experience today. They get vacation…not hard work.

But I truly did love every minute of my childhood.

Looking back, I realize those years taught me something important. Life was organized around seasons. Every season had a purpose. Every season required something different. And every season eventually gave way to the next.

That lesson followed me throughout life. Sports reinforced that lesson. One season was tennis. Another was basketball. Another was track. Then came seven years of college, where I eagerly counted down the days until summer break. When I eventually owned my sports medicine clinic, I noticed the same rhythm. Even the athletes and injuries I treated changed with the seasons.

And now, living in Arizona, I’ve watched yet another summer rhythm emerge. The temperatures rise, people leave town, business slows down, and the pace of life seems to soften.

The Bible mentions seasons quite often. There is something beautiful about the way God works through seasons.

Nature reminds us of this truth every year. Winter gives way to spring. Spring blossoms into summer. Summer eventually yields to fall. Every season serves a purpose, and none of them are meant to last forever. The same is true in our lives.

Summer is still a season my family intentionally shifts into. Each year, my husband’s business takes us from living in the city to living in a small cabin tucked away in a mountain town. It’s glorious. What began years ago as a business necessity has become one of God’s greatest gifts to our family.

The slower pace creates space.

Space within my mind to receive.

Space to breathe and hear the birds instead of traffic.

Space to reconnect with God’s plans and purpose.

Space to rest—not to be lazy, but to learn how to work from rest instead of striving.

Most importantly, space to hear God’s voice more clearly.

Today, summer is no longer simply a season we enter because work requires it. It has become an intentional season we protect. We schedule for it. We prepare for it. We value it. Because restoration does not happen by accident.

As I reflect on this summer, I find myself thinking about the summer solstice—the longest day of the year, when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky and the earth experiences its greatest light. Creation itself reveals something powerful.

The sun is not striving harder on the solstice. It doesn’t work overtime to produce more light. It is simply occupying the position God designed it to hold.

What a beautiful picture for our own lives.

So many people spend their days striving, pushing, worrying, and wondering if they are doing enough. Yet God is not asking us to manufacture growth through effort alone. He is inviting us into a new season.

Summer is the season when what has been growing beneath the surface begins to become visible. Seeds mature. Fruit ripens. What was hidden begins to emerge into the light.

Perhaps this summer is God’s invitation into a new season.

A season where clarity replaces confusion.

A season where truth becomes easier to discern.

A season where you stop shrinking back and allow the light God placed within you to shine more brightly.

A season where the fruit of years of prayer, growth, and obedience begins to become visible.

Most importantly, a season where you stop striving and fully occupy the place God has appointed for you.

Maybe you need to hear this today:

You are not late. God has not forgotten you. Your season has an appointed unfolding.

So don’t rush past your summer because you’re already worried about winter.

Receive the season.

Schedule restoration.

Protect time with those you love.

Create space to hear God’s voice.

Allow His light to shine into every area of your life.

My prayer for you this summer is simple:

  May the light of God rise high over your life.

  May clarity replace confusion.

  May warmth return to places that have felt cold.

  May your strength increase without striving.

  May joy mature within you like fields ready for harvest.

  And may the fruit God has been cultivating quietly within you become visible for His glory and for the blessing of those around you.

Embrace the season. Receive the light. And let it shine!!

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…”

— 1 John 4:18 NIV